London, April 26 (BUS): Leeds United gave their hopes of survival in the Premier League a boost by searching for a 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace as the two teams struggled to cancel each other out at Selhurst Park.
The first half was fraught with problems and neither side could achieve their rhythm, but Palace should have scored when Jean-Philippe Mateta missed two chances in the first half, Reuters reported.
All the action took place in and around Leeds as the match approached the final stages, with Wilfried Zaha making two clever saves from goalkeeper Ilan Meslier.
Leeds survived the pressure late but retained the tie that raised it to 34 points from 33 games, five points behind the relegation zone, although it played a game more than Everton in 18th place. Al Qasr remained in 14th place with 38 points.
Burnley’s last good run continued over the weekend as they secured a second three-pointer run with a 1-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers, giving Premier League players to Everton plenty to worry about as they fell into third place.
Leeds are not yet safe but they are in a better position to stay awake as new American coach Jesse Marsh has earned 11 points in his seven games at the helm, seven more than he has achieved in his former coach Marcelo Bielsa’s last seven games.
“It wasn’t our best night, but it was a recipe for not losing and finding a way to collect points – we’ll take the positives,” Marsh told the BBC.
“We need to find ways to be a little more dangerous, but the clean sheet and a draw are two big positives. The pressure will always be big no matter what.”
Palace mustered 17 shots in the match, most recently being more goalless attempts in the Premier League’s Boxing Day 2018 match against Cardiff City.
“I’m happy with the way we started and finished the game, but all we’re missing is some quality up front,” Palace coach Patrick Vieira told Sky Sports.
“With a bit of luck, we would have scored. We created chances, which is important, but we need to finish them.”